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OWLeS:
Ontario Winter Lake-effect Systems

Summary

The OWLeS project examines the formation mechanisms, cloud microphysics, boundary layer processes and dynamics of lake-effect systems (LeS) using new observational tools capable of detailing LeS characteristics not observed in previous LeS field experiments. Lake-effect systems form through surface-air interactions as a cold air mass is advected over relatively warm (at least partially) ice-free mesoscale bodies of water. The OWLeS project focuses on Lake Ontario because of its geometry and size, influence of upstream lakes, frequency of LeS, nearby modest orography, and proximity to several participating universities with a strong record of undergraduate research. We distinguish between short-fetch LeS (those oriented at large angles to the long axis of the lake) and long-fetch LeS (those more aligned with the lake's long axis).

The overarching objectives of the OWLeS project are to:

understand the development of, and interactions between, internal planetary boundary layers (PBL) and residual layers resulting from advection over multiple mesoscale water bodies and intervening land surfaces

understand the processes involved in the development of lake-effect snows over the New York Finger Lakes and how these processes differ from the larger Great Lakes